AuroraWatch

Realtime updates on the visibility of the Northern Lights

AuroraWatch is a website that provides a realtime monitor of geomagnetic activity in the Edmonton area and offers a free email alert service to let you know if there may be aurora visible tonight.

AuroraWatch offers two alert levels:

Yellow is issued when there is more than a 50% probability of auroral displays

Red is issued when there is more than a 70% probability of auroral displays

AuroraWatch forecasts are made by examining the behaviour of the Earth's magnetic field strength, which is measure by ground-based magnetometers. By comparing ten years of H-component magnetometer data to aurora observations, we have developed an algorithm for predicting the likely percentage of observing an aurora in Edmonton.

For the Best View

The best advice for viewing aurora is to look north after dark. Just around or before midnight is an especially good time, but the northern lights can be seen in Edmonton from early evening onwards on some very active days. Inside the city the light pollution makes dimmer auroras harder to see - so you get a much better view if you go to a location with darker skies outside the city.